Savouring Stratford in 2010

This past weekend Bo and I returned to Savour Stratford. We introduced The Water Wagon at Savour Stratford in September of 2009 - so it was nostalgic to come back to the place were it all started.

Many things had stayed the same over those 12 months. First, the food was still amazing. The Farmer's market was full of colour, flavour and life. It made me very proud to be a part of community that was celebrating the essential contributions of our farmers.

The restaurant's offered some wonderful treats as well. I especially liked the veggies. The people were the same too. Everyone that came by The Water Wagon was turned on to the environmental sense The Water Wagon brought to the festival. The comments (just like last year) were all about the "common sense" of The Water Wagon - or the "forward-thinking" of our company. It was great to bask in that for two days.

Our return included a few differences as well. First, we were at the festival with a Water Wagon borrowed from The Region of Waterloo. (we sold out for this season - even our demo) The Region of Waterloo generously offered their wagon so we could return to Savour Stratford.

Many people commented on the "Region of Waterloo" logos. They asked if we were from Waterloo. When we told them that we were a company from Stratford - the question always came to "why aren't you using the Stratford Water Wagon".

The first couple of times I explained that Stratford had no interest in The Water Wagon, at this time. I also explained that we manufactured in Stratford - made jobs in Stratford - promoted Stratford (and its water) - and used local businesses for virtually all of our supplies.

And after a few more explanations - I started to feel a bit uncomfortable. The Water Wagon has been rolled out from Stratford and has already (in one year) served tens of thousands of customers. It has been to the Olympics, Cambridge, Kitchener, Markham - festivals, concerts, street events. Its a great idea and KewlEarth is a Stratford company that is helping to make this tap water revolution move forward.

I guess its true that it is hard to be noticed in your own home town. Stratford is a beautiful place to live and work. I encourage Stratford to continue its efforts to be environmentally active. I also hope that Kewlearth can help them reach those kinds of goals.